Memorial Park Central Connector
Houston
Landscape/Urban Development
Presented by: Ardurra Group Inc.
Region: ENR Texas and Louisiana
Owner: Memorial Park Conservancy; Uptown Houston
Principal landscape architect/design firm: Nelson Byrd Woltz
General contractor: i will tell you
Civil Engineer/Principal Consultant: Ardurra Group Inc.
Structural engineer: Walter P Moore; Henderson Rodgers
MEP Engineer: Hunt & Hunt Engineering Corp.
Channel layout: Freese and Nichols
Management of engineering transport and drainage operations: City of Houston
Engineering consultant/Fire and acoustics: Arup
Architect: Kathleen English Associates
Creative Architecture/Infrastructure: METALAB
Landscape architect: White Oak Studio
This project added a pair of land bridges over a highway that bisects Houston’s largest park in order to bring its north and south sides together and improve connectivity for both visitors and wildlife. It is a key part of the start of an effort to restore the park’s ecological systems and increase their resilience under a 10-year master plan.
Aiming to minimize the environmental impact of the work, the team designed the 96-hectare project to balance the amounts of excavation and backfilling. They reused the excavated soil for backfilling the concrete structures of the land bridges, so that there was no movement of dirt off the project site. They were also able to mine the silt sand that was on site to place around the concrete structures for the necessary drainage and to relieve hydraulic pressure on the segment walls. Concrete from the existing road was also reused for steps on one of the earth bridge mounds.
Photo by Nick Hubbard
“Essentially, there were no trucks hauling dirt in and out of the job site,” says Raj Tanwani, practice director at engineering firm Ardurra Group Inc.
Unlike the soil, precast concrete segments for the four 30-foot-radius arches were delivered to the site. After initially planning to cast in place, Tanwani says they designed the bridges without a particular manufacturer in mind, leaving the precast option open to contractors. They selected a precast arch wall system from a local supplier that uses independent cantilever pieces connected by a structural beam. The result saved time and money compared to the cast-in-place method.
The project reintroduced Gulf Coast prairies and wetlands, as well as adding land bridges over a road that bisects the park.
Photo by Nick Hubbard
The project’s scope of work also included the reintroduction of areas of endangered Gulf Coast native grasslands and wetlands on both sides of Memorial Drive. The team also built a channel to help manage storm runoff and improve flood resilience in the area.
“It’s an iconic project that has changed the image of Houston,” Tanwani says. “Houston was never thought of as a park city. This project has changed the perspective.”
